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Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh

Name: Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh
Director: Adam Curtis
Released: 1997
Duration: 59 min

Representation Score

4.7/10

Fair

1997

Director

Adam Curtis

Runtime

59 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Adam Curtis's documentary offers a sophisticated critique of institutional power and systemic inequality. By focusing on the biological legacy of Henrietta Lacks, the film challenges conventional scientific histories that usually favor male-dominated establishments. The work explores the tension between individual bodily autonomy and the impersonal forces of global capitalism. It highlights how systemic forces intersect with racial and gendered identities through the lens of medical ethics. Ultimately, the film provides a profound exploration of how underrepresented bodies have been used to advance Western science, making it a powerful study of systemic exploitation.

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Category Breakdown

Does Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film provides no evidence regarding the depiction of LGBTQ+ identities. No non-straight-centered narratives are present in the material.

How does Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh portray gender?

Good

The film focuses on Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose biological legacy is central to the story. This shifts the traditional focus away from male figures and positions a female subject as the key figure in modern medicine.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh?

Excellent

The film showcases exceptional representation by centering a Black woman within a field traditionally dominated by white, Western institutions. It highlights the systemic extraction of resources from people of color.

How does Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The documentary examines anti-capitalist themes by emphasizing how individual cells became tools of global industry. It questions Western medical dominance and the potential for institutional exploitation.

Does Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh include disability representation?

Minimal

While the subject matter involves cellular health, there is no specific evidence regarding the portrayal of disabilities or characters with disabilities.

Present on Screen

Centers a Black woman's narrative within a historically white-dominated scientific field.
Critiques the systemic appropriation of biological material from underrepresented bodies.
Highlights individual ability to act in challenging traditional scientific hierarchies.

Limited or Absent

Lacks specific evidence regarding the representation of LGBTQ+ identities.
Does not include visible or invisible disability representation with character's ability to drive the story.

Official Synopsis

In 1951, a woman died in Baltimore, U.S.A. She was called Henrietta Lacks. These are cells from her body. They were taken from her just before she died. They have been growing and multiplying ever since. There are now billions of these cells in laboratories around the world. If massed together, they would weigh 400 times her original weight. These cells have transformed modern medicine, but they also became caught up in the politics of our age.

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